Posts by Heath

My friend Brian posted this on Facebook (and he of course got it from someone else so I don’t know where it originated) but it really warmed my insides. In a good way. Not like a feverish viral way or anything.

15 Things You Probably Never Knew or Thought About

At least 5 people in this world love you so much they would die for you.

At least 15 people in this world love you in some way.

The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.

A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don’t like you.

Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep.

You mean the world to someone.

If not for you, someone may not be living.

You are special and unique.

Someone that you don’t even know exists loves you.

When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.

When you think the world has turned its back on you, take a look: you most likely turned your back on the world.

When you think you have no chance of getting what you want, you probably won’t get it, but if you believe in yourself, probably, sooner or later, you will get it.

Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about the rude remarks.

Always tell someone how you feel about them; you will feel much better when they know.

If you have a great friend, take the time to let them know that they are great.

A Minute:
They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them.Take the time… to live and love.

If you do so, You will certainly brighten someone’s day and might change their perspective on life, for the better.

I used to live my life utterly and completely honestly and openly on the internet. I blogged about everything, good, bad or ugly. My life was an open book for anyone to read. I enjoy being a completely open, honest person with no boundaries and I still live extremely openly on the net but sometime last year I changed a little bit. I started keeping a lot of the darker, more painful or negative things out of public view. I’m not sure what exactly changed, I just know that I decided there were some things that I just didn’t necessarily want to spew onto the web any more.

I think there are several layers to this, one being that I really want to be a positive person, and I believe what you put out into the world is what you will get back. Maybe it’s also because, while I still talk to friends in private about anything I need to, I don’t think the world at large necessarily wants to here me whine, complain and be all emo. During this process, I’ve found that being forcefully (and sometimes slightly falsely) positive about something, actually does make me feel happier and more positive in reality. That was something good to learn!

It’s also made it harder in some ways when things have been going on. The open part of me wants to share and be honest and cry out but it just doesn’t feel right any more. That’s something to do in private with those close to me. Part of me misses the days when I would share that, but I do think I’m overall happier in my new skin.

It’s been a year of a lot of changes. I’m still dealing with a whole lot of things in life, but I always try to remember as I’m going to bed that in the grand scheme of things, my life is charmed and I’m a hell of a lucky guy. And every now and then, I get a glimpse of something that shows me that I’ve taken a step closer to being the person I want to be.

I’ve recorded a handful of cover songs by various artists. Some were my own original take on a song such as “Tomorrow Never Knows“, “Kiss The Girl” and “Boys Of Summer” and some were painstakingly faithful reproductions such as “Because“. Some people may wonder, “Why bother re-recording someone else’s song? Especially if you’re not doing anything original but just meticulously copying the original artist.” Sometimes it’s a bit of a hybrid such as “Eleanor Rigby” which faithfully reproduces all the individual parts but replaces the string quartet with all guitars instead.

My newest cover is mostly a faithful reproduction of Butch Walker’s “Ships In A Bottle” with a little bit of my own flavor in it. I think Butch is one of the best singer/songwriters making music today so why do my own version? Well for one, it’s a tribute to him. Secondly, it’s just fun. And thirdly it’s amazingly educational. Breaking down a song, finding all the little hidden parts and nuances, listening to how it’s mixed, the effects used, the equalization across the frequency spectrum, and all the million little details of a recording educates me through osmosis. I learn to be a better producer, engineer, and songwriter not to mention honing my playing and singing chops.

These songs are only available to stream at the moment because I’m still working my way through learning the legalities and such of covering other people’s music, therefore, while I have bought some limited rights to these songs, I don’t feel comfortable offering them for download, much less for sale. If you like my versions, I highly encourage you to go out and buy the original artists’ recordings of them! Thanks for listening!

This song came on my iPod a couple of days ago and it just struck me. I had to learn it. Something about it just really resonated with me. I say again that Muse are one of the best bands making music today. In fact, ever.